In 1956, the minimum wage was worth $7.93 in today's currency (Sklar, Holly), and in the 1980s it was worth $8 compared to $7.25 are the current minimum wage (“Minimum wage myth busters.”). According to the Economic Policy Institute, approximately 30% of families have an annual income below the standard income for all life necessities (Sklar, Holly). It is no wonder that poverty, unemployment and low income have become such a serious problem. How can the nation be economically strong with 1950s labor wages? It is unfortunate that our current minimum wage is worth less than it was in 1968 – which had a purchasing power of $9.92 when accounting for inflation – the same year Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis; a time when he fought for living wages for healthcare workers (Sklar, Holly). We live in the twenty-first century; we should not go back, nor be tied to twentieth-century wages. The minimum wage does not keep pace with inflation because the cost of living continues to rise; which causes the value of the minimum wage to lag behind (“Minimum Wage Mythbuster”). The increase in the national wage is a step towards addressing the rising cost of living, pushing many out of the market